Andy Murray knows there will be no margin for error when he tackles David Ferrer in the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals on Monday.
Murray opens up his challenge at the O2 Arena knowing he has won his last four meetings against the Spaniard, including in successive weeks in Tokyo and Shanghai, while he has only ever lost to Ferrer on clay.
However world No.3 Murray insisted he is taking nothing for granted.
Murray said: "I've played well against him on hard courts in the past but he's made the finals of the Masters Cup indoors, he's won tournaments on indoor hard courts, so I've played well against him because I've needed to."
Switched on
The round-robin format means each of the world's top eight players are guaranteed three matches, but Murray knows there will be no chance to take it easy.
The Scot said: "It's not like I go into any other tournament not trying to be switched on but sometimes you're not quite playing your best and you can scrape your way through a match or two and then work your way into the tournament. Here you have to play your best - it's as simple as that."
Victory at the lucrative end-of-season tournament would give Murray the biggest title of his career, but he played down suggestions that would influence his grand slam chances in 2012.
Citing the records of Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, he said: "(In 2009) Rafa lost all three matches here and then had probably his best year the following year and Novak didn't play particularly well last year and then had one of the best years ever.
"I feel like I can win against all of these guys regardless of whether I do well here or not."
